It took nine tries, but Will Venable logged his first career managerial victory on the road, and he pushed the right buttons to make it happen.
The White Sox spent the majority of the afternoon trailing by two, but they managed to snap their six-game losing streak with room to spare thanks to a mix of small ball, the long ball, and some Red Sox mistakes along the way.
The White Sox offense opened up after Boston's bullpen entered, which continued the theme from Saturday. Tanner Houck pitched a solid six innings despite surrendering a two-run shot to Matt Thaiss in the first, but Zack Kelly relieved him in the seventh with a 4-2 lead and immediately jeopardized it. Lenyn Sosa led off with a single, after which Kelly preceded to plunk the next two batters in embarrassing fashion. He threw a literal backfoot slider to Joshua Palacios on an 0-2 count, and after Miguel Vargas fouled off a weak bunt attempt on the first pitch, Kelly hit him on the hand when Vargas was squaring around for a second try, which loaded the bases.
Alex Cora went back to the bullpen for Justin Wilson, and Venable countered with Brooks Baldwin for Jake Amaya. Baldwin sprung a push bunt on Wilson's first-pitch fastball to an infield playing back, and while it was a little too firm to leg out a single, it scored the run and moved the other two runners into scoring position.
Venable then went back to the bench, calling upon Edgar Quero to hit for Nick Maton. An even bigger payoff ensued, because Quero fouled back fastballs at the top of the zone before getting a slider that also stayed up. He lined it through the middle for a two-run single that put the White Sox ahead 5-4.
Venable then had to turn his attention for nursing a lead over the final three innings without anything resembling a closer, but his offense helped him out by expanding the lead. Unfortunately, two runs came off Liam Hendriks, who was making his first appearance in nearly two years. Luis Robert Jr. greeted him with a line-drive single, stole second, and while Matt Thaiss popped out in foul territory, Andrew Vaughn's 110.5 mph-rocket cleared the Green Monster to make it a 7-4 game.
The Sox then pushed it out of a save situation in the eighth. Baldwin singled with one out and stole second, after which the Red Sox backfilled first when Alex Bregman bounced a throw to first on what should've been a Quero groundout. Both runners moved up on a soft groundout by Benintendi, and while Brennan Bernardino made the wise move of walking Robert to set up a lefty-lefty battle with Thaiss, he made it a moot point by drilling Thaiss on the hand for one more run.
None of the insurance was necessary, because Brandon Eisert, Steven Wilson and Cam Booser combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Sean Burke, whose day was short of a triumph.
Wilson sidestepped the most danger. He hung a sweeper to Kristian Campbell with two outs and one on in the seventh, but Campbell just got under it and flied out to Robert in front of the Monster. In the eighth, he walked Ceddanne Rafaela with one out, but David Hamilton's line drive found Chase Meidroth at short, and then he came back from a 3-1 count to strike out ninth-hitting Blake Sabol.
Booser had it easy by comparison, getting two groundouts and a popout on 11 pitches, nine of which were strikes, and the smooth ending compensated for a rocky start.
Burke first took the mound with a 2-0 lead, and departed it with a 3-2 deficit thanks to a pair of errors. He struck out Jarren Duran to start the game in his hometown park, but Lenyn Sosa booted a Rafael Devers grounder to second, and then Vargas locked up after fielding Bregman's hot shot, and by the time he resumed moving, he rushed a throw up the line to put two on. Wilyer Abreu then drove them both home by hammering a high changeup into the bullpen behind the right field wall to put Boston ahead by 1. All the runs were unearned on the theory that Burke had already deserved three outs.
Burke had his own problems closing the second. He rolled a 1-2 curveball to Sabol for a two-out double, and a hanging 3-1 slider to Duran ended up in right for an RBI single that made it a 4-2 game. He then walked Devers and plunked Bregman to load the bases, but staved off further doom when Abreu's line drive to right found a charging Palacios for the final out.
Somehow, Burke managed to hold that line through five without ever retiring the side in order. He helped his own cause by picking off Campbell after a leadoff single, which was another example of the Red Sox shooting themselves in the foot just as well as the White Sox did.
Bullet points:
*Quero contributed a TOOTBLAN on Chicago's side by failing to advance on a not-that-wild pitch. Also, Palacios got picked off first base on Sabol, who was 0-for-3 in trying to catch basestealers at second.
*The White Sox have scored at least eight runs in four of their five wins this year.
*Benintendi laid out for a diving catch in left, and showed his experience playing Fenway's left by not letting any singles turn into doubles.
*Meidroth was scratched from the starting lineup due to a sore thumb, but it didn't prevent him from playing shortstop at the end of the game.
*Robert reached base three times and scored two runs. Vaughn now leads the White Sox with three homers, and is tied with Baldwin for the RBI lead with 10.
*Hendriks averaged only 95.4 mph with his fastball, which probably isn't good for his long-term viability.
*The season series will be decided Monday morning at 10:10. Hopefully Jonathan Cannon handles the early start better than Lucas Giolito did four years ago.
